Creating Sustainable Internet of Things Futures: Aligning Legal and Design Research Agendas
“I had a great time yesterday at our workshop ‘Creating sustainable IoTs future. Aligning legal and research agendas’ at DIS 2024. We had some amazing participants who presented their research, we played games, we talked, and we post-it-noted.”
On 2 July 2024, at the Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS 2024) in Copenhagen, our full-day workshop—Creating Sustainable Internet of Things Futures: Aligning Legal and Design Research Agendas—brought together designers, legal scholars, social scientists, and IoT researchers from across disciplines.
Workshop Focus & Goals
The workshop tackled a pressing challenge: the lifecycle model of IoT devices. Many current devices are characterised by planned obsolescence, limited repairability, and rapid software redundancy. Together, these factors contribute to electronic waste and wider environmental harm. By creating space for interdisciplinary dialogue, the workshop set out to map societal, legal, and environmental implications of IoT systems, envision opportunities and barriers for more sustainable design, and share best practices and tools that can help pave the way toward greener IoT futures.
Interactive Design & Legal Exploration
Participants took part in hands-on activities throughout the day. Using post-it brainstorming, groups mapped out problematic IoT design patterns and reflected on the societal values and environmental consequences they embodied. Alongside this, participants gave short presentations of their own research, which posed critical design provocations and future visions. Later, we shifted focus to the legal landscape, discussing initiatives such as EcoDesign, Cyber Resilience, and Right to Repair, while identifying both triggers for positive change and potential legal roadblocks to overcome.
Tools Demonstration & Community Building
A playful and practical spirit permeated the day. Participants explored research-through-design artefacts such as the “Right to Repair Cards” and the “Fixing the Future Board Game,” which were used to spark conversations and generate new ideas. These physical tools were complemented by posters, a shared Slack space, and a collaborative Miro board, ensuring the diverse discussions were captured and carried forward.
Outcomes & Next Steps
The workshop achieved strong outcomes that extended beyond the day itself. It sparked the formation of an international, interdisciplinary network dedicated to sustainable IoT. Together, we mapped design challenges, legal barriers, and research opportunities, co-creating action-oriented agendas for the future.
